Related quotes

Andrew as a little boy

RELATED QUOTES

Professor Krebs (Food Standards Agency) admitted that he did not consume meat during the period when MAFF the MLC and Farming interests were all pronouncing its safety. Krebs even supported his wife, a school governor, in trying to get beef and beef products removed from menus in school catering.

Roy Hattersley, The Guardian October 28 2000, in an article about the ministers involved in the BSE crisis wrote,
“The lie was collective.” He continued “its been a bad one (week) for publicly accountable government”

Andrew’s Consultant Dr McMonagle Southampton Hospital, Neurology Department told me: “A stray burger did not cause this” (Andys condition) in June 2007
John Collinge Professor of Neurology (UCL) told me January 2008 “Spinal cord was used to make MRM which was crushed and the soft tissue left would come out as a pink paste, that material was the culprit. MRM is as highly infectious as the brain itself “ He continued “.I understand that MRM was used in the institutional market, schools, hospitals, prisons and the military. Large numbers of children were at school and they were there for years so exposure to MRM was great.”

Professor Richard Lacey leading Microbiologist who voiced concerns about BSE from its earliest days and its implications to human health “was subjected to defamation personal attack from the food industry and politicians.”

Dr Stephen Dealler Bournemouth University:

“Dr Harash Nang who worked to develop a urine test for BSE was subject to intimidation and was dismissed from his job“ <i>Dr Stephen Dealler</i>.

In 1996 German Sociologist Kerstin Dressel who had interviewed many scientists at the centre of the crisis said “the Government more often than not simply used scientific committees to give their political decisions the air of being scientifically based”.

Professor Lacey, Microbiologist, declared “The government has been deliberately risking the health of the population for a decade. ….the reasons it didn’t take actions was that it would be expensive and damaging politically particularly to the farming community who are their supporters”. He continued “ …”we are seeing the beginning of a very large number of people acquiring the disease in the next century“ (1996)

Marja Hovi Veterinarian was fired after refusing to certify carcasses as BSE free. She was describe as a “difficult woman”.

“UK Government allowed more than ten years to elapse after recognition of a new disease before formal efforts were made to integrate the work of all the agencies concerning the control of BSE”. <i> International Journal of Epidemiology Michael O’Brien (2000).</i>

Andrew’s friends say goodbye

September 1979 The Royal Commission on Environmental Protection published a report warning against feeding meat to herbivores…the report stated “that feeding animal protein to herbivores presented a risk of transmitting animal diseases to humans.“

Research by the CJD Surveillance unit and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine found the incidence of vCJD was twice as high in the north of Britain as in the South.
NB It wasn’t until Easter 1996 that East Lothian removed beef and beef derived products from the school dinner menus of all its 47 schools.

Professor Bob Will CJD Surveillance Unit told me “We know from information we have received that some brands of baby food during the BSE crisis contained MRM.”

Professor Collinge. ”With the first cow reported with BSE in the early 1980s and an incubation period of 5 to 7 years it is likely that BSE was entering the food chain on a low level from the late 1970s. Reaching its height of infectivity in the food chain 1990/1991.”

“Tory Government Health officials opposed attempts to ban BSE -infected material from the human food chain at the same time that pet-food manufacturers were planning to prohibit similar offal from dog and cat meat.” <i>Steve Connor, The Independent August 30th 1998</i>

A school cook and manager during the 1980s told me “We used offal in everything, bags of it would arrive everyday and we would disguise it in pies, puddings everything. We had a large mincing machine which it all went into. This was happening in school kitchens across the UK.” March 2008

“Rogue prions are so small that you cant see them, you cant wash them away, or kill them with boiling water or sterilisation. Instruments are also very efficient at transmitting vCJD as metal is rendered infectious” Professor Collinge February 2008

Head of catering for a local authority told me “Those were the good old, bad old days in school meals (1980s)…..when it was liver at least once a week and lots of offal.” March 2008

A woman who worked in school meals and kitchens from the 1980s to the 1990s told me “When cash cafeteria came in the food was very unhealthy and a limited choice. Burgers, pies, hot dogs, sausage rolls and a hot meal like beef curry.” (all of these reformed/reclaimed meat dishes would have contained MRM which was used extensively even in vegetable dishes due to zero subsidies and cost cutting).

“Older people could well die before developing any symptoms and it would be easy for professionals to diagnosis age related dementia which could be in fact vCJD, as someone elderly showing symptoms of confusion and loss of memory is less likely to be investigated.” Professor Collinge told me February 2008.
(MRM, offal and gelatine was used in, Meals on Wheels, hospitals and nursing homes, day centres)

Richard Tyler (BSE Mad Cow Disease) October 2000: “Far more money was expended in compensation schemes for destroying cattle than on research in both BSE and its human variant.” He continues “The greatest danger, comes from the practice of mechanically recovered meat or MRM where high pressure water hoses are used to clear carcasses and the slurry is then used in cheap burgers, pies and sausages.”

“The incidence of Sporadic CJD (random occurring disease which affects older people 60-65 years) have risen each year. We could say its because we are better at diagnosis but I believe its could be due to BSE in the food chain which can make people more susceptible to developing Sporadic CJD. I have also seen much younger cases of Sporadic CJD patients, I don’t think that’s a coincidence.” <i>March 2008 Professor John Collinge.</i>